by Homer
and then Menon and Iamenos and Orestes—
all of them, one after the other, Leonteus brought low to the nourishing earth.
While the Lapiths were stripping the fallen of their glittering armor,
all the while the young warriors who followed Poulydamas and Hector,
those who were most numerous and best, and most determined
to shatter the wall and destroy the ships with fire,
still stood hesitating by the ditch.
For a bird came to them as they were readying to cross,200
a high-flying eagle skirting the host, going left,
carrying in its talons a crimson snake, portentous,
still alive, breathing, and not forgetful of its fighting spirit;
and in its turn it struck the eagle holding it across the breast, by the throat,
twisting itself back; and the eagle, smarting with pain, let it fall from its grasp
to the earth, dropping it in the midst of the battle-throng,
and with a piercing cry flew off with a blast of the wind.
The Trojans shuddered when they saw the writhing snake
lying in their midst, a portent of Zeus who wields the aegis.
Then Poulydamas spoke to bold Hector, standing close:210
“Hector, always somehow you fault me in assembly
when I point out things that are best, since it seems it is not fitting
that a mere citizen speak against you, not in council,
nor ever in war, but only ever to increase your might;
now, however, I will speak out, as it seems best to me.
Let us not go forth fighting the Danaans for the sake of the ships.
For thus I think it will be accomplished, if truly
this bird came for the Trojans just as we were intent on crossing,218
bearing a blood-colored serpent in its talons, a portent,220
alive; but he let it fall before he reached his beloved home,
and did not succeed in carrying it to give to his children.
So we, even if we shatter both the gates and wall of the Achaeans
with our strength, and the Achaeans withdraw,
we will not travel the same road back from the ships in good order;
we will leave behind many of the Trojans, those whom the Achaeans
will slay with bronze as they fight on behalf of their ships.
So would a diviner interpret this, one who in his heart clearly
knew portents, and one whom the people trust.”
Then looking at him from beneath his brows spoke Hector of the shimmering helm:230
“Poulydamas, these things you declare are no longer pleasing to me.
You know how to think up some other speech better than this one.
But if you now make this declaration truly, in earnest,
then the gods themselves have utterly deprived you of your wits,
you who bid me forget the counsel of far-thundering Zeus,
which he himself promised to undertake and granted,
and you now bid me put my faith in long-winged birds;
for them I care nothing, nor am concerned
whether they go right toward the light and sun,
or go left toward the misted darkness.240
Let us have faith in the will of great Zeus,
who is lord of all mortal beings and all immortals.
Only one omen is best—to defend the fatherland.
Why do you fear war and battle?
Even if all the rest of us are killed about you
beside the ships of the Argives, for you there is no reason to fear dying;
for your heart is not battle-hardy, nor warlike.
But if you hang back from battle, or with persuasion of words
you cause another to turn back from war,
straightway struck down under my spear you will lose your own life.”250
Then so speaking he led on, and the men followed
with unearthly din; and Zeus who wields the lightning bolt
caused a rush of wind to rise from the peaks of Ida,
which bore a cloud of dust straight for the ships; and he bewitched
the wits of the Achaeans, and gave glory to the Trojans and to Hector.
Then trusting in portents of Zeus and in their own strength
they endeavored to shatter the great wall of the Achaeans.
They tore at the towers’ outworks, and tried to throw down the ramparts,
and to dislodge the retaining struts, which the Achaeans
placed first in the earth to buttress the towers.260
These they were trying to pull up, hoping to shatter the Achaean
wall; but the Danaans did not at all give way,
and hedging the ramparts round with their oxhide-shields,
from these they hurled their missiles at the enemy as they came below
the wall.
And both Aiantes, urging the men always, ranged in every direction
on the ramparts, rousing the spirit of the Achaeans,
with words of gentle persuasion for one man, another they
reproached with words of harshness, whomever they saw hanging back from the fight:
“O friends, you of the Argives who are outstanding, who are middling,
you who are less skillful—since men are by no means alike270
in war—now the work is for us all;
and you yourselves mark this. Let no man turn himself back
toward the ships when he hears Hector’s shouting,
but face forward and urge each other on—
if only Olympian Zeus of the lightning bolt
grant that we turn the tide of battle back and chase the enemy to the city!”
So shouting aloud the two rallied the fighting throng of Achaeans;
as flakes of snow pour down in drifts
on a winter’s day, when all-devising Zeus begins
to snow, showing to mankind these the shafts of his artillery,280
and hushing the winds to sleep, he heaps the snow steadily, so that it shrouds
the heights of high mountains and peaks of cliffs,
and blossoming lowlands and the rich worked-lands of men;
and the snow drifts the bays and beaches of the gray salt sea,
and the sea swell splashing it is stilled; and all else
is cloaked from above, when the snows of Zeus weigh down;
just so did the stones fly thick from both sides,
some at the Trojans, some from the Trojans at the Achaeans,
as they bombarded each other; and thundering rose above all the wall.
Not even then would the Trojans and shining Hector290
have shattered the walls and the long door-bolts,
had all-devising Zeus not driven his own son Sarpedon
upon the Argives, like a lion on twist-horned cattle.
Straightway he held before him the circle of his shield,
splendid, of beaten bronze, which the bronze-smith
hammered, and inside had stitched layers of oxhide
with golden wires right round the circle.
Holding this before him, brandishing two spears,
he set out like a mountain-raised lion, who has been without
meat for a long time, whose bold spirit drives him300
to try for the flocks and to enter into their close-fenced fold;
and even if he should find herdsmen there
standing guard with dogs and spears about the flocks,
he is not minded to be driven from the fold without a try,
but either springing forth he snatches one away, or he
is struck in the forefront of fighting by a spear from a swift hand;
so his spirit drove godlike Sarpedon
to rush at the wall and to smash the ramparts.
And straightway he spoke to Glaukos the son of Hippolochos:
“Glaukos, why ar
e we two esteemed beyond all310
with seats of honor in Lycia, with cuts of meat and goblets filled
and all men looking on us as if on gods,
and why were we allotted a great plot of land by the banks of Xanthos,
a beautiful plot, with an orchard and wheat-bearing field?
So we must now take our stand among the foremost
of the Lycians and engage in searing battle,
so that any of the close-armored Lycians may say,
‘Not inglorious are they, our kings who hold sway
over Lycia, and consume fat-rich sheep
and choice honey-sweet wine; but, mark you! their strength is320
outstanding, since they fight with the front rank of Lycian men.’
O old friend, if we two escaping this war
were destined to be ageless and deathless always,
I myself would not fight in the frontlines,
nor would I send you into battle where men win glory;
but now, since the fates of death stand by us
in their thousands, which a mortal man cannot escape nor flee,
let us go—either we will give the right to vaunt to someone else or he to us.”
So he spoke, and Glaukos did not turn back, nor did he disobey;
and straight on they both advanced, leading the great host of Lycians.330
And seeing them Menestheus, the son of Peteos, shuddered;
for it was to his sector of the wall they were coming, bringing ruin with them;
he peered along the wall of the Achaeans in the hope that he might see one
of the leaders, someone who could ward off disaster from his comrades.
Then he marked the two Aiantes, insatiable in war,
holding position, and Teucer just coming from his shelter
nearby; but not by shouting could he reach them,
so great was the clamor—battle cries reached heaven—
of shields and horsehair-crested helmets
and the very gates being struck; for all the gates were shut, and the Trojans340
positioning themselves about them were trying to break through by force and enter.
And quickly he dispatched the herald Thoötes to Ajax:
“Go, illustrious Thoötes, run to summon Ajax,
both men would be better; indeed that would be by far the best of all,
since here will soon be wrought sheer destruction;
so heavily do the Lycian leaders bear upon us, who even before, as now,
showed themselves to be ferocious throughout the mighty combat.
But if the toil of war and battle has arisen there for them too,
at least let strong Telamonian Ajax come alone,
and let Teucer follow with him, well skilled in bows.”350
So he spoke, nor did the herald hearing him disobey,
and he left on the run along the wall of the bronze-clad Achaeans,
and coming up he stood beside the two Aiantes, and straightway he spoke:
“Aiantes, you leaders of the bronze-clad Argives,
the beloved son of Peteos, cherished by Zeus, bids
you go there, so that if only for a little you share the toil of fighting;
both of you would be better; indeed that would be by far the best of all,
since there soon will be wrought sheer destruction;
so heavily do the Lycian leaders bear upon us, who even before, as now,
showed themselves to be ferocious throughout the mighty combat.360
But if here too war and battle has arisen,
at least let strong Telamonian Ajax come alone,
and let Teucer follow with him, well skilled in bows.”
So he spoke, nor did great Telamonian Ajax refuse.
At once he spoke winged words to the son of Oïleus;
“Ajax, and powerful Lykomedes—you two
remain here and urge the Danaans to battle strongly;
I am going there and will meet the fighting.
I will come back quickly, when I have defended them.”
Then so speaking Telamonian Ajax departed,370
and Teucer went with him, the brother of Ajax by the same father.
And following with them Pandion carried Teucer’s curved bow.
When they arrived at the rampart of great-hearted Menestheus,
keeping inside the wall they came to hard-pressed men,
for the Lycians’ powerful leaders and commanders
were mounting the ramparts like a dark storm-wind,
and face-to-face the Achaeans joined with them in battle, and the war shouts rose.
And Telamonian Ajax first killed a man,
the companion of Sarpedon, Epikles the great-hearted,
striking him with a jagged glittering stone, which lay inside the wall,380
huge, on the top of the heap beside the rampart; nor could a man easily
hold it with both hands, not even in his youthful prime,
such as mortal men are now; but Ajax lifting it high hurled it on the Lycian,
and smashed the four-horned helmet, and shattered his skull utterly
all in a mass; and he then like a diver
plunged from the towering rampart, and his spirit left his bones.
And Teucer struck Glaukos the powerful son of Hippolochos
with an arrow as he rushed against the towering wall,
there where he saw his arm was bare of armor, and so he stopped his fighting spirit.
At once Glaukos leapt from the wall, in stealth, lest one of the Achaeans390
see that he was wounded and exult over him with words.
And grief descended on Sarpedon as Glaukos departed,
since he marked it at once; nevertheless he did not forget his fighting spirit,
but with sure aim he struck Alkmaon son of Thestor
with his spear, and wrenched out the shaft; and following with the spear Alkmaon
fell face forward, and round him clashed his armor elaborate with bronze.
Then Sarpedon, seizing the breastwork with strong hands,
pulled, and the whole of it gave way all along the wall; above
the rampart was laid bare, and he had made a passage for many.
And Ajax and Teucer both failed to hit Sarpedon—Teucer with an arrow400
struck the shining baldric round his chest
that held his man-surrounding shield; but Zeus warded off death from
his son, so that he not be broken by the ships’ sterns;
springing forward Ajax thrust at Sarpedon’s shield; his spear did not
go right through, but he battered at Sarpedon as he came in fury.
Sarpedon gave way a little from the battlement; but he did not withdraw
entirely, since his spirit was hoping to win glory.
And turning himself about, he called to the godlike Lycians:
“O Lycians, why do you relax your fierce courage?
Hard it is for me, strong though I am,410
to break this alone and make a way to the ships.
Come, join with me; for the work of many men is better.”
So he spoke, and in dread of their lord’s rebuke
they pressed all the more around the lord who bore their counsels;
but the Argives from the other side strengthened their ranks
from inside the wall; and great was the task set before them all;
for neither were the powerful Lycians able to break the wall
of the Danaans and make a way to the ships,
nor were the Danaan spearmen ever able to thrust
the Lycians from the wall, when once they had made their position,420
but as two men fall out over boundaries,
measuring rods in hand in a common-worked field,
who wrangle in the tiny spot for equal share,
so then did the narrow ramparts separate them; and above them the men
kept tearing
at the oxhide shields about each other’s chests,
well-rounded shields and bristling hides fluttering with tassels.
And many men were wounded down through their flesh with pitiless bronze,
both the fighter whose back was exposed by his turning,
and many right through their very shields.
And everywhere the towers and ramparts were spattered430
with the blood of men from both sides, Trojans and Achaeans.
Yet still the Trojans were not able to make a rout of the Achaeans,
but they held on, as a woman careful in her poverty holds her scales,
and holding a weight and her wool, one on each side, she raises them
to balance equally, so as to gain for her children a meager pittance.
So their fighting and the line of war were pulled tight and equal,
until the time when Zeus gave victorious glory to Hector
son of Priam, who was first to rush within the wall of the Achaeans.
With a piercing voice he shouted so as to be heard by the Trojans:
“Rise up, Trojans, breakers of horses, shatter the wall440
of the Argives, hurl into their ships the demonic fire.”
So he spoke inciting them; and all gave ear to him,
and made straight for the wall in a mob. They
scaled the outworks, pointed spears in hand,
while Hector seizing a rock carried it with him, a rock that
stood before the gates, blunt at the bottom,
but sharp it was on top; a rock that the two best men of the country
could not without effort heave from the earth to a wagon
such as mortal men are now; but he with ease brandished it, and on his own.
the son of devious Cronus made it light for him;450
as when a shepherd easily carries the fleece of a ram,
picking it up with his left hand, and the burden weighs little on him,
so Hector lifting the stone bore it straight for the doors
that close-guarded the gates, tightly fitted,
a towering pair; two bars inside,
crossing each other, held it, and a single bolt was fitted on.
He went and stood close, and taking a firm stance, he struck them in the middle,
his legs straddled wide, so that his blow lose no force,
and shattered both hinges; the stone fell inside
under its own weight. The gates groaned loud on either side, the bolts460
did not hold, the doors were sundered in every direction
by the blow of the stone. Glorious Hector sprang at them,
his face dark like the rushing night; he shone with the dreadful